Synopsis

Naruto Uzumaki was a prankster who was constantly causing trouble throughout Konohagakure. Much of the village disliked him for it, but he enjoyed the attention garnered from reprimands, as he had no parents or friends. Despite claiming to be a talented shinobi who would someday become Hokage, Naruto was incapable of performing basic techniques such as the Clone Technique. When this left him unable to graduate from the Ninja Academy, one of his instructors, Mizuki, told him that, if he could steal the Scroll of Seals and learn one of its secret techniques, he would be allowed to continue on to the ranks of the ninja anyway. After successfully stealing the scroll, Naruto was caught by another instructor, Iruka Umino. Surprised that Iruka had found him so quickly, Naruto worried that he would now be unable to graduate. Realising that Naruto had been tricked, Iruka protected him from the attack of Mizuki, who was planning to take the scroll for himself. Mizuki told Naruto that Naruto was alone in the world because he had had the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox sealed within him on the day of his birth. He went on to explain that the villagers hated him for the monster he contains, and that Iruka, his parents having been killed by the Nine-Tails, must hate him the most. Iruka said this was not the case, as he did not blame Naruto for the beast's actions, and that in fact he, having also grown up craving attention, sympathasised with Naruto. Naruto believed Iruka and used his newly-mastered Multiple Shadow Clone Technique to defeat Mizuki. Amazed by the complicated technique that Naruto had learned, Iruka officially made Naruto a ninja and notes that he may one day have the potential to become Hokage.

Trivia

For the Japanese DVD release of this episode, a shinobi from the opening scene was redrawn without blood on his face. This edit was present in all subsequent dubbings of the episode.

Shikamaru, Ino, and Sakura were behind Naruto in the anime, but in the manga, different unnamed Academy students were behind him.